Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "The experience of mission forms part of my life, and not only as a baptized person, as for all us Christians, but because as an Augustinian religious I was a missionary in Peru, and in the midst of the Peruvian people my pastoral vocation matured", said Pope Leo XIV in his address today to officials of the Roman Curia and employees of the Holy See, the Governorate and Vicariate of Rome, whom he received in audience in the Paul VI Hall. "I will never be able to thank the Lord enough for this gift", the Pontiff added.
Pope Leo introduced the reference to his long missionary experience in Peru in the part of his speech dedicated to recalling "the missionary dimension of the Church and of every institution linked to the Petrine ministry". This dimension - the Pontiff recalled - that Pope Francis insisted upon a great deal who "reformed the Roman Curia from the perspective of evangelization, with the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium".
In the first part of his address, underlining the importance of the mission entrusted to officials and employees gathered with their families in the Nervi Hall (who had welcomed him upon his arrival with a three-minute standing ovation), the Successor of Peter also recalled that "Popes pass, the Curia remains. This applies to every particular Church, for the episcopal Curias. And it also applies to the Curia of the Bishop of Rome. The Curia", Pope Prevost emphasized, "is the institution that preserves and transmits the historical memory of a Church, of the ministry of its bishops". And memory - he added - "is an essential element in a living organism. It is not only directed to the past, but nourishes the present and guides the future. Without memory, the path is lost, it loses its sense of direction". For this reason, "to work in the Roman Curia means to contribute to keeping the memory of the Apostolic See alive." (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 24/5/2025)
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